If Cardiff want to end their three-year quest for Premier League football,
finding a cure for their away day blues is surely a prerequisite.

For the second time in a week — and indeed the fifth time this season — Cardiff manager Malky Mackay witnessed his players singing the same depressingly familiar tune on the road and this extraordinary defeat cost them the leaders’ spot in the Championship table.

Charlton ended a dismal run for Chris Powell’s side and moved three places clear of the relegation zone. Powell, whose side had only mustered five goals across the course of their previous seven home league fixtures, hailed his players’ “devastating” second half display.

He said: “You see the resolve and the character of the players, and they really showed a lot of heart. In the first 20 minutes of the second period we were devastating.”

But it was an inauspicious start for Charlton as visiting forward Heidar Helguson scored his fifth league goal of the season within the opening four minutes. The Cardiff fans had reason for further cheer 20 minutes later as Joe Mason prodded home from eight yards.

Charlton were handed a route back into the game with just six minutes of the first period remaining, with Johnnie Jackson lashing the ball into an unguarded net after David Marshall had spilled a high ball. The Charlton captain capitalised on more generosity in first-half stoppage time to nod the ball past Marshall and put his side level at the interval.

Twenty minutes after the restart Charlton began a sequence that saw them notch three more goals in 11 bewildering minutes to turn the game on its head.

First Dale Stephens’ hopeful long-range free-kick deceived everyone, including Marshall, and nestled in the back of the net, then Danny Haynes evaded the entire Cardiff back four to glance home unmarked.

And bewilderment turned to sheer disbelief shortly afterwards as Rob Hulse steered Salim Kerkar’s fine searching cross into the back of the net, prompting cries of “top of the league, you’re having a laugh” from the Valley’s Covered End.

The generous allocation of six added minutes handed Cardiff a reprieve of sorts, with Craig Noone and substitute Aron Gunnarson scoring to threaten an unlikely comeback but, unlike the Charlton fans, it is highly improbable that Mackay, his players, or the 822-strong travelling contingent of Cardiff fans, saw the funny side of their quite remarkable collapse.